Mission impossible: the last of Cpt2, Kozilek, in OGW events

KylinTang

First I felt really happy when the first event was released with all new OGW cards.

16 new encounters, I already beat 15 encounters, though little tough. However, the last one, Kozilek, the Great Distortion, was really shocking me!

Let us see the profile of this monster:

a. 412 LIFE, almost 4 times to any available planeswalker in Lv60, it means you may have the longest game you've never play ...
b. Can cast ALL FIVE COLOR cards, and I can assure that its deck is full of Mythic cards. Rare cards are barely seen here ...
c. ALL FIVE COLOR Mana Bonuses with +4. This means any colorful match can give at least 7 mana, terrible and powerful ...
d. CHEATED ABILITY: Distort Reality. With only 6 loyalty, it gives: Refill your hand (means get full hand cards, regardless how many before you use the abiliy) AND gain 15 mana. Do e. you know what 15 mana can do in MTGPQ? For a large creature with 18 - 20 mana, this ability can give a ONE-ROUND-CAST.

With these four advantages, this encounter, Kozilek, the Great Distortion, can be considered as unbeatable, in my opinion.

Numerous life digital makes the RED Chandra's rapid damage opponent's life strategy infeasible;
Refill hand makes the BLACK Liliana's discard opponent's hand cards strategy infeasible;
Fastest mana acquisition makes the disable strategy of WHITE Gideon, the rapid casting strategy of GREEN Nissa and the return-to-owner's-hand strategy of BLUE Jace very very hardly to win the game.

I think maybe only one planeswalker, Kiora, a dual-colored planeswalker with BLUE and GREEN, can beat this freaky monster with powerful cards, at least 3-4 Mythic cards. However, because I don't have one, so this encounter now keep me out of the final rewards.

Hope I can get overflow lucky to checkmate this unbeatable one, though I think this is really a Mission Impossible ...

Any friend can give positive opinions?

Thanks!

EDHdad

The only really feasible strategy is to create bigger creatures than theirs and to slam your creatures into their creatures.

I did it with Kiora and token spawners, plus reach / berserker, and some lifegain.

Another person reports they did it with Koth and berserker / double-strike effects.

It might be possible to pull off with Gideon II or Garruk, with their ability to spawn big tokens and some access to lifegain.

Blue bounce is mostly out, because one card gives everything Hexproof and there are several effects which fill the opponent's hand. However, Displacement Wave still works, and an early Harbinger of the Tides could slow them down. I'm not sure if The Great Aurora effects hexproof. At one time, it didn't, but this might have been a bug which got fixed.

KylinTang

EDHdad wrote:

The only really feasible strategy is to create bigger creatures than theirs and to slam your creatures into their creatures.

I did it with Kiora and token spawners, plus reach / berserker, and some lifegain.

Another person reports they did it with Koth and berserker / double-strike effects.

It might be possible to pull off with Gideon II or Garruk, with their ability to spawn big tokens and some access to lifegain.

Blue bounce is mostly out, because one card gives everything Hexproof and there are several effects which fill the opponent's hand. However, Displacement Wave still works, and an early Harbinger of the Tides could slow them down. I'm not sure if The Great Aurora effects hexproof. At one time, it didn't, but this might have been a bug which got fixed.

Really helpful! Thanks very much!

If I said I didn't pay one cent for this game you may don't believe. I only have the initial five PWs.

Next mission for me is to collect enough crystals for purchasing Kiora.

I'm the guy that d3Go may not like -_-!

exmor

If you are low on budget, you may want to try it with Gideon, Battle-Forged. (Max 60 level is required).

Here is the deck that I used (my card pool is limited):

Uncommon - Iroas's Champion (Core)
Uncommon - War Oracle (Filler)
Uncommon - Angel of Renewal (Filler)
Uncommon - Knightly Valor (Useful)
Uncommon - Serene Steward (Filler)
Uncommon - Consul's Lieutenant (Core)
Uncommon - Patron of the Valiant (Useful)
Common - Lithomancer's Focus (Useful)
Common - Smite the Monstrous (Core)
Common - Enshrouding Mist (Core)

Basically, cards that are core are essential for winning and everything else is optional.

This strategy depends on a good opener. So restart if you dont get one, life is not that important. It is important to get one or two creatures out as quick as possible, ideally Iroas's Champion or Consul's Lieutenant. After that try to fill up the remaining two slots with creatures that have low mana cost and decent stats (i.e. Serene Steward). Then save up enough energy to use Gideon's call to arm ability or Champion so as to counter the 6 damages from Tryant. Use Enshrouding Mist when necessary (i.e. when you are attacking a creature or defending attacks from three creatures). Save Smite the Monstrous for removing early threats in order to grow your creatures or for removing threats that are too hard to kill (i.e. creatures enhanced by Mirrorpool) and then pray that the AI doesnt have Crush of Tentacles. If you are well ahead in board state, you can save up Smite the Monstrous and some creatures in order to come back from the devastating Crush of Tentacles.

All in all, this involves quite a bit of luck. So good luck!

Ethyde

I beat it with a Kiora "Lock deck" based on Drowner of Hope & From Beyond.

TheLaughingMann

I'll see how this guy fares when I get to him. Kiora costs too damned much to get (950 crystals? Really?!), and I am way off from getting all the top tier Rares and Mythics. I beat Chapter 1 with good use of my black destruct-control deck, but if this guy sounds this effing insane, it'll be a chore to be sure.

rulerhumankind

Welp, I am here to say that you can do it with a Liliana Discard deck:

Creatures:
Fathom Feeder
Ulamog's Despoiler
Sludge Crawler - Quick Ingest for Despoiler

Spells:
Dark Petition - Heavy use
Infinite Obliteration - Awesome card now, absolutely needed
Grip of Desolation
Gruesome Slaughter - should be replaced, I thought it might work on the hex-proof creature, but no dice.

Supports:
Shrine of the Forsaken Gods - best purchase ever
Demonic Pact - MVP, hands down

I made sure that Kozilek could only play one card, and that was when it got its loyalty to 6. After it dropped its ability, I would use Obliteration, and Liliana's second ability to wipe its hand, and Demonic Pact would complete the lockdown. The lone creature it would cast would be destroyed by Grip of Desolation, or the hex-proof creature would die in 3 turns to Demonic Pact (yes, it does do 2 damage to hex-proof creatures each turn, godly card) You have to be careful, and as insane cascade would ruin you, but I completed the challenge twice with this deck so I know it works. (I say twice because I got Kozilek to 60 health with me at 75, and the game crashed... so much rage).

Funny thing is, My Liliana is level 55, I think I am going to max it out now lol.

DrD

Ethyde wrote:

I beat it with a Kiora "Lock deck" based on Drowner of Hope & From Beyond.

That's how I beat it too. Here's my decklist:

Creatures (1)
[*]Drowner of Hope

Support (6)[/*]
[*]From Beyond[/*]
[*]Spawning Bed[/*]
[*]Brawler's Plate[/*]
[*]Sigil of Valor[/*]
[*]Throwing Knife[/*]
[*]Nissa's Pilgrimage

Spells (3)[/*]
[*]Scatter to the Winds[/*]
[*]Exert Influence[/*]
[*]Talent of the Telepath[/*]

The addition of the newly costed Scatter to the Winds allows this deck to lock down both the creatures on the board and prevent the opponent from being able to cast anything new, especially when combined with Kiora's first ability and the fact that most of the opponents spells cost a lot. The other nice thing is that the Awaken puts colorless tokens into play, which provides another source of colorless creatures to trigger Drowner of Hope if you don't have From Beyond out.

It was still quite a grind even with the lock in place and having stolen a 9/8 flyer from him early in the game. It's the hardest opponent I think I've faced in this game yet. I really appreciated the challenge of this event and I look forward to other events like this in the future.

TheLaughingMann

rulerhumankind wrote:

Welp, I am here to say that you can do it with a Liliana Discard deck:

Creatures:
Fathom Feeder
Ulamog's Despoiler
Sludge Crawler - Quick Ingest for Despoiler

Spells:
Dark Petition - Heavy use
Infinite Obliteration - Awesome card now, absolutely needed
Grip of Desolation
Gruesome Slaughter - should be replaced, I thought it might work on the hex-proof creature, but no dice.

Supports:
Shrine of the Forsaken Gods - best purchase ever
Demonic Pact - MVP, hands down

I made sure that Kozilek could only play one card, and that was when it got its loyalty to 6. After it dropped its ability, I would use Obliteration, and Liliana's second ability to wipe its hand, and Demonic Pact would complete the lockdown. The lone creature it would cast would be destroyed by Grip of Desolation, or the hex-proof creature would die in 3 turns to Demonic Pact (yes, it does do 2 damage to hex-proof creatures each turn, godly card) You have to be careful, and as insane cascade would ruin you, but I completed the challenge twice with this deck so I know it works. (I say twice because I got Kozilek to 60 health with me at 75, and the game crashed... so much rage).

Funny thing is, My Liliana is level 55, I think I am going to max it out now lol.

I love my Liliana deck. I have half of these cards, though. And she's already maxed out. In nearly a month's time, I expect to have all five of my starting heroes maxed out. After that, I'll need to buy a new planeswalker eventually to find something to do with all of my runes.

CZack

I actually had more trouble beating the one before him, Tyrant of Valakut. The constant onslaught of direct damage would blast through anything I put up before I had a chance to get off the ground.

For Kozilek, I used a Gideon deck. Some first strike creatures for defense and then the Goggle Phalanx combo for damage. I did get lucky that he didn't get many cascades at the start, but once I was set up I was able to steamroll over him before he had a chance to cast Tentacle Crush.

Creatures:
Relic Seeker, Consul's Lieutenant, Iroas's Champion, Vryn Wingmare, and Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim (from this event)

Supports:
Pyromancer's Goggles, Canopy Vista, Supression Bonds, and Knightly Valor

Spells:
Gideon's Phalanx

zolesz

I beat it with a level 55 Kiora deck:

Creatures:
Zendikar Incarnate: With first strike and reach it kills off all the threats. (till it gets removed by those dirty octopuses)
Gaea's Revenge: big and hex proof. Pump it up with reinforce and Retreat to Kazandu. With first strike and reach it kills off all the threats. I didn't get a single instance of this during the game, though, so practically was not necessary to have it.
Harbinger of the Tides: to bounce back the bad guys
Plated Crusher: big and hex-proof. Pump it up with reinforce and Retreat to Kazandu. With first strike and reach it kills off all the threats.

Supports:
Nissa's Pilgrimage: for faster mana gain
Retreat to Kazandu: for pumping up creatures and do some healing
Fertile Thicket: for faster mana gain

Spells:
Helm of the Gods: for giving first strike to my fatties. Very important!
Mantle of Webs: for giving reach to my fatties. Also very important!
Plummet: useful for cheap killing all those big creatures with fly (costs only 4 mana).

This is 2 mythics, 2 rares, 2 uncommons and 4 commons.


I was also very close to winning with Gideon (level 50):

Creatures:
Consul's Lieutenant
Veteran Warleader

Supports:
Knigthly Valor
Suppression Bonds
Murder Investigation
Hedron Blade
Retreat to Emeria

Spells:
Unified Front
Smite the Monstrous
Helm of the Gods


0 Mythic, 3 rares, 4 uncommons, 3 commons.
Here the idea was to build up big creatures with first strike and vigilance.
Murder Investigation and Knightly Valor makes it sure you always have some defenders to block attacks.

KylinTang

exmor wrote:

If you are low on budget, you may want to try it with Gideon, Battle-Forged. (Max 60 level is required).

Here is the deck that I used (my card pool is limited):

Uncommon - Iroas's Champion (Core)
Uncommon - War Oracle (Filler)
Uncommon - Angel of Renewal (Filler)
Uncommon - Knightly Valor (Useful)
Uncommon - Serene Steward (Filler)
Uncommon - Consul's Lieutenant (Core)
Uncommon - Patron of the Valiant (Useful)
Common - Lithomancer's Focus (Useful)
Common - Smite the Monstrous (Core)
Common - Enshrouding Mist (Core)

Basically, cards that are core are essential for winning and everything else is optional.

This strategy depends on a good opener. So restart if you dont get one, life is not that important. It is important to get one or two creatures out as quick as possible, ideally Iroas's Champion or Consul's Lieutenant. After that try to fill up the remaining two slots with creatures that have low mana cost and decent stats (i.e. Serene Steward). Then save up enough energy to use Gideon's call to arm ability or Champion so as to counter the 6 damages from Tryant. Use Enshrouding Mist when necessary (i.e. when you are attacking a creature or defending attacks from three creatures). Save Smite the Monstrous for removing early threats in order to grow your creatures or for removing threats that are too hard to kill (i.e. creatures enhanced by Mirrorpool) and then pray that the AI doesnt have Crush of Tentacles. If you are well ahead in board state, you can save up Smite the Monstrous and some creatures in order to come back from the devastating Crush of Tentacles.

All in all, this involves quite a bit of luck. So good luck!

First thanks for your strategy. However, I tried more than 10 times, all failed. Maybe bad luck.

The keys to win are fast cast Iroas's Champion given by Gideon's ability to make it fly/vigilance (because I don't have War Oracle) and my opponent MUST DON'T HAVE THESE TWO CARDS: Crush of Tentacles & Remorseless Punishment. Crush of Tentacles will return my core creature to my hand and give a 16/16 creature, the worst thing is no strategy can counter it. Remorseless Punishment will undoubtedly kill my core creature, though I can avoid it with Enshrouding Mist, by wild-eyed guess of my opponent's next casting card.

Additionally, I spend 600 crystals to open the booster packs and got a mythic card: Mirrorpool. Though nothing can be done for winning this encounter game.

So, this strategy is reasonable, but you have to be very very lucky, for no Crush of Tentacles & Remorseless Punishment in your opponent's hand and very fast chained gems match to cast core creatures.

I'll tried later until I have healing potions ....

Now I only have 65 crystals, I think I have to kill my Kiora purchasing plan ...

What the XXX.

Melevorn

I'm a free player with limited cards, and completed the event using a Koth deck and a Gideon deck.

The Gideon deck took out Kozilek on my third try. It uses either Iroa's Champion or Consul's Lieutenant for the First Strike, War Oracle + Serene Steward combo to give the Champion/Lieutenant +1/+1 every turn, and Gideon's first and third power to make them a monster.

Then sit back and use disable/remove spells and supports to keep things moving. Eventually, you get a 30/30 or better Iroa's Champion killing things pretty quickly...

alextfish

I bear him with Gideon 1, first-strike creatures, and extensive use of Gideon's middle and top abilities. Get all your creatures above 6HP, preferably the turn you play them (charge multiple copies and then launch them both at once).

Once you have a big flying first striker out, SAVE CREATURES IN HAND to be ready to launch for if Crush of Tentacles happens. Keep buffing the creatures with Call to Arms - you want at least a first strike vigilance creature with at least 12 power, preferably 16. But saving some loyalty to get back going after Crush of Tentacles is a good plan as well.

Smite the Monstrous is handy against a few things like the huge dragon, but you can't rely on it too much because of that darn Sphinx giving everything hexproof.

EDL666

And here I am with My low lvls PW thinking I could do it... I was able to do the tyrant with Gideon II because I could make his progress slower and denying him mana... But Kozilek is just impossible. With those cards, that much HP and +4 in every color, my only hope would be a black discard deck, but I don't have any efficient discard cards and I don't get mana quick enough to deny him any board presence of any kind. And then I die very quickly because I have 50 something HP. Anyway, event was fun, required strategy up until Kozilek that is just a dumb resource race against an unbeatable God on steroids. Hurray for f2p players!!

KylinTang

Thanks for everyone. I already take this monster down with Nissa's green deck, core card is Undergrowth Champion. Check another post of mine.

Theros

I guess I got extremely lucky to beat that boss with jace and zero damage, no mythic

DrakeMallard

I beat it with Lvl 50 Jace, though it took some doing. Basically stalled with mana drain and let thopter spy network do all of the work. Will post a deck list if anyone wants. Brawlers Plate is kinda essential for it to work. Let the thopter chop down all of their big scary creatures when you don't have removal in hand.

BigMao

I beat this encounter with Gideon 1.0 in two tries, using a deck focused on supports and spawning Angel tokens:

Support:
Sigil of the Empty Throne
Starfield of Nyx
Suppression Bonds
Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
Mirrorpool

Spells:
Helm of the Gods
Enshrouding Mist
Smite the Monstrous

Creatures:
Felidar Sovereign
Lantern Scout

The colored dots indicate rarity.

The main strategy was to spawn a strong enough Angel token and give it Vigilance (with Sharp Eyes ability) and First Strike (with Helm), then Kozilek's big creatures slam against it and die.

The other cards either help this happen more quickly, or they ensure survival until the combo is up. I am not sure how many Mythics are important to have, but Starfield and Mirrorpool really help.

If you have Starfield and Shrine on the board and cast Mirrorpool, Mirrorpool will trigger an Angel spawn, reinforce it (producing an 8/8) and destroy itself. Starfield brings back Mirrorpool at the start of your next turn for another 8/8, and the cycle repeats each turn so you can get Angel up past 24/24 pretty quick.

I got Kozilek down to 10 life on my first try (before it cast Crush of Tentacles twice and turned things around), and I won easily the second try because it didn't cast Crush at all. I would keep Smite the Monstrous handy in case Crush is cast. Lantern Scout is very helpful for recovering life; I won the encounter with full HP.

It seemed Kozilek didn't cast Crush of Tentacles very often (which would kill the Angel of course), this is perhaps because it prioritizes creatures over spells. World Breaker was a bit annoying to deal with since it destroys supports, but not a "deal breaker" (no pun intended).

EDHdad

I beat Kozilek this time around with a Kiora build:

Brawler's Plate
Disperse
Drowner of Hope
From Beyond
Mantle of Webs
Mirrorpool
Nissa's Revelation
Reclaim
Talent of the Telepath
Thopter Spy Network

The key card here is Drowner of Hope, who is the only creature and can be fetched with Kiora's 2nd ability. Drowner of Hope disables all opposing creatures when a colorless creature comes into play. If either From Beyond (which spawns Eldrazi Scions) or Thopter Spy Network + another support is also in play, then every opposing creature will be disabled at the start of my turn.

If I need mana, I can Reclaim an Eldrazi Scion for 3x its power plus 12 mana.

Mirrorpool was something of an under-performer, since most of the time it simply added one scion or one thopter to the board. But once in a while, it would reinforce Drowner or turn a Disperse / Talent of the Telepath into a free Nissa's Revelation.

BigMao

Nice - I would probably build an Eldrazi desk with Kiora if I had Drowner of Hope. I agree Mirrorpool is a bit unpredictable, particularly in decks with a lot of token spawning.